Last month’s column was directed to the parents, policy-makers/politicians and educators, who are in a position to help shape and influence New Brunswick’s future. This starts with early education - ensuring our children get the required skills to keep them on a path of realizing opportunities. Literacy is fundamental, as is equipping youth with digital skills, like coding, to meet the projected workforce demand for 182,000 ICT jobs in Canada by 2019 (ICTC).

So how do we inspire innovation to fuel our future workforce, and to create the Resson Aerospaces and Smartskins of tomorrow? New Brunswick Innovation Week is a step in the right direction.

The Premier’s second annual Innovation Week will take place during th...

It is time to celebrate innovation in New Brunswick! Last month, we provided a glimpse of what is shaping up for New Brunswick Innovation Week taking place May 2-8, 2016.

Ignite Fredericton, the community’s economic development catalyst agency, is delivering three days of innovation-focused content during New Brunswick Innovation Week. The events will target youth, academia/research and business. The KIRA Awards will be the celebratory, culminating event of the week, recognizing outstanding innovation and achievement among all sectors.

The Premier’s vision for New Brunswick Innovation Week 2016 is to engage New Brunswickers, and beyond, to recognize, celebrate and accelerate innovators within our province. The New Brunsw...

No doubt you are aware of names like TechStars, MaRS, DMZ and YCombinator who are leading in the space of business incubation and acceleration in major cities. What you may not be aware of is the high rate of innovation happening in our very own Planet Hatch, which was modelled after prominent accelerators across North America.

Since its birth in September 2013, New Brunswick’s flagship business accelerator has been fostering an environment to spur creativity and innovation, and it has supported over 156 companies. There’s a real entrepreneurial buzz at Knowledge Park, as Planet Hatch continues to output new startup companies like WEnTech, Chinova Bioworks, Kognitiv Spark, and there’s more to come.

Through the recent federal and provincial funding announcement, $374,000 has been allocated to support the alignment of entrepreneurial services within the ecosystem, and the next iteration of activities, which we like to call “...